once within the undertow

el • they/them • nerdy anthropologist

[anxeious]

this is making me emotional

[mollybeenoel]

[teathattast]

[i-merani]

[lonestarflight]

Apollo 17 vs Artemis II

[hauntedfragmentgeode]

Queer unity has been trying as hard as possible to downplay any possible transfem issue. Pay gap adding up to thousands a year? Not a big deal. V coding? Never mention it. Trans women are much more likely to be sent to an early grave than their male counterparts? Stop bringing that up. Trans people collaborating with kiwifarms? Just internet drama.

You know what IS an important issue? Getting called a fucking birthday boy. They get all hands on deck about it. They will write VERY long posts about how important it is you not use it, and that anyone who does must be punished as severely as possible

There's only one explanation. The lives of trans women are so worthless to them, so fucking disposable, that a trans man getting invalidated is actually more important to them. That's how these people, who demand we view them as family and allies, who think we should be ready to die for them, view us.

I know people who treat house flies with more respect than that.

[comingtotheendofthings]

It’s really disingenuous to talk about trans men’s issues as if the biggest problem trans men are talking about is being called birthday boys. Our priority should not be comparing experiences based on our own limited perspectives. Those are serious issues for trans women…why do you bring them up only to say being called a birthday boy is all trans men think is an important issue for them?

Trans people SHOULD be sympathizing and assisting with each other’s issues, and part of that is having the decency to recognize when you do not actually understand other trans people’s biggest problems.

[kosmogrl]

my jaw is on the floor

[todaysbird]

had….had someone been punishing them for this?

(source)

[maraudraugr725]

I feel kinda gross asking but

How do birds masturbate?

It’s not like they can jork their bocks (bird cocks) with their wings, right?

[comingtotheendofthings]

Birds don’t have cocks, they have cloacae. If you look up a cloacal kiss, that might help you figure this out.

Fun fact, dinosaurs likely also had cloacae or something similar, based on their living relatives having them and on a Psittacosaurus fossil that shows it had a cloaca.

[sylvia-is-tired]

the thing that really pisses me off about the term transandrophobia is that it completely misunderstands what transmisogyny actually refers to, and in doing so, makes it a lot more difficult to actually fight it.

mostly, on this app, i see transandrophobia being used to mean the oppression faced by transmasculine individuals. i am not trying to deny that this oppression exists or even compare it to the oppression faced by transfeminine individuals.

however, the term transmisogyny does not refer to the oppression faced by transfeminine individuals, rather it is a term based in the philosophy of intersectionality—looking specifically at how misogyny is weaponized against trans women.

there is no systemic androphobia for transandrophobia to exist, and insisting upon transandrophobia as a opposite to transmisogyny misunderstands what transmisogyny means and cheapens it from the complex, academic term that it is, into a synonym for transphobia.

[comingtotheendofthings]

There doesn’t need to be a general androphobia for a trans-specific term to be useful. Cis men don’t need to be mistreated for being men for it to be true that trans men and some nonbinary people are mistreated for their maleness or masculinity, and for it to be true that a word to describe that experience is important for discussing it.

It may seem counterintuitive that the patriarchy prioritizes men and hates the masculinity of transmasculine people, but it’s not actually contradictory. Under transphobia and the patriarchy, transmascs are not “supposed” to be masculine—their masculinity is what makes them trans, and so that masculinity is part of what’s targeted when trying to eradicate them. Their masculinity is a “bad” thing poisoning their “natural femininity,” to therefore it’s justified to use violence to eradicate that masculinity even if a cis man’s same expression of masculinity might be praised.

It is also true that even under a patriarchy, there are some stereotypes of men and masculinity that are used against marginalized groups. This has been a big part of research on anti-Black racism against Black men, on ableism against disabled men, on masculine women, on transmasculine people, and even on trans women while being misgendered. Male violence is glorified in the patriarchy…until it’s time to vilify a marginalized group, and then men = violent means that group is dangerous.

And rightly or not, transandrophobia is also sometimes used to discuss misogyny-related harm to transmasculine people. Seeing as most discussions of misogyny exclude men and nonbinary people, it’s important to have another word to group those discussions under that will be inclusive of transmasculine experiences of misogyny.

You are using the semantics of the word to excuse denying transmasculine people a specific term to describe their own oppression. Multiple words have been suggested, each one rejected for having any reference to masculinity even though they’re talking about a masculine group of people. Why are the semantics of the word itself more important than the ability to discuss transmasculine oppression?

You also in turn cheapen transandrophobia from its own complex, academic term. Why is transmisogyny complex and academic to you, but transandrophobia isn’t? They are both born from trans people trying to describe their own oppression.

[kcyars99]

[galatially]

#i always think about how beautiful it was for ryan coogler to cast buddy guy as older sammie #i often think about how people like to espouse the idea that we are "so far removed" from jim crow and segregation when creatives like buddy are still alive #a lot of the activists and figures are still alive! #idk the fact that he's living proof of the continued effects of chattel slavery on black americans is so bittersweet because he remembers such atrocities but he's also able to bestow wisdom and history for art pieces like sinners

[saltedweather]

Ryan Coogler said in an interview, btw, that part of why he thought of Buddy Guy was because his uncle loved seeing him – he'd get dressed up and go see him play live when he got the chance.

[rootlessly]

28 may 2025 — central coast, california

[modelsof-color]

Xiaorui Li by Greg Lin for Haper's Bazaar China Magazine April 2026

[kat--blaque]

Especially when I’m writing in shorter form, I tend to use my words very deliberately and I mean exactly what I’m saying and would use different words if I meant something else. #Bisexual #Homophobia #Biphobia #LGBT #Discourse April 11, 2026 at 11:16AM via Instagram https://instagr.am/p/DXAEh4vGu85/

[comingtotheendofthings]

Why assume that wanting to attract women and gain privilege is the driving factor here and not social stigma around bisexual men? The post you were responding to was wrong to place extra blame on women, but your response just shifts to making assumptions about what drives bi men to the closet while still not addressing the elephant in the room. You ARE making a claim and judgment about the inner motivations of bi men while omitting the influence of biphobia on those motivations.

Bisexual men are more likely than both gay men AND straight men to experience sexual violence other than rape, and to experience anxiety and mood disorders. Bisexual men are more likely than straight men to be sexually harassed in public. Bisexual men are more likely to be stalked than straight men. (Source) They are also more likely to experience poverty and substance abuse. (Source)

Even if it’s true that some bi men hide to gain straight privilege…how could the above statistics possibly influence their desire to be hidden?

Do these statistics point toward a situation that indicates bisexual men just want to capitalize on privilege…or does it indicate that their bisexuality puts them in a marginalized position and so, like many lgbtq people, they feel pressure to hide if they can because they realize being bisexual is dangerous in a biphobic world?

When asked why they don’t disclose their sexuality, the most common reason bi men gave was that they were afraid of receiving strong negative reactions including disgust and harassment (Source).

[ether--net]

[junebugbears-deactivated2026041]

posts like this are probably right but i don’t understand things like this without examples. or maybe even examples specific to my life. which i can’t exactly ask bloggers to provide. (remembers i can ask for things) however if you are able to explain this to me using examples from the same disability/health condition - or even better, a health condition i have (or symptom seeing as diagnoses is in flux atm we dk what’s going on) - that would be really helpful.

[comingtotheendofthings]

Everyone’s specific symptoms will be different depending on their disability, but here’s an example of mine:

Negative consequences: I can’t walk or stand unassisted for more than a moment or two without experiencing progressively worse pain and fatigue, and I’ll continue to experience negative symptoms for a while even after I’ve sat down to rest. So, even though I can technically stand and walk on my own, when I do I will experience negative consequences (pain and fatigue, or even collapse if it’s bad enough).

Support: I can’t visit a museum without a wheelchair, because I cannot stand or walk long enough. If I do not have the support of a wheelchair, either I will have to leave very quickly, or I will not be able to visit the museum at all.

I can’t do that: I can’t go on runs. My body will give out when I try, and even an unsuccessful attempt can have lasting health impacts for me. It is not possible for my body to handle going on a run with my current disabilities.

These of things can overlap or, for example, the negative consequences could range from “mild discomfort” to “death” and we’d normally put the most severe in the “I can’t do that” category (if you’ll die if you do it, you can’t really do it).

Although I used my more physical disabilities as an example, this can also apply to other types of disabilities, such as ADHD, schizophrenia, and so on. For ADHD, an example might be, “I can’t get my chores done without ADHD medication as a support” or “I can’t remember important things without setting multiple reminders.”

[harocat]

Alysa Liu photographed by erxn.photography on instagram

[guloriasetimu]

This tutorial saved my lifeeeee I just made a very pretty braid brush + I feel like I understand how to use the custom brush tool a bit more than before

Please watch if you wanna have braids brushes on your procreate!